


lay your head on my shoulder, it´ll be alright in the morning.

by vicbartons



Series: Robron Week 2018 [1]
Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Angst, Fluff, M/M, supportive!husbands
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-25
Updated: 2018-03-25
Packaged: 2019-04-07 22:45:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14091360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vicbartons/pseuds/vicbartons
Summary: Aaron and Robert have a late night chat about the Liv situation.





	lay your head on my shoulder, it´ll be alright in the morning.

**Author's Note:**

> This was written as part of this year´s [Robron Week](https://robronweek.tumblr.com/) for the prompt: home/domesticity.

It wasn´t the cold of the empty mattress next to him that woke Robert up. Nor was it the empty space. Not really. It was the lack of Aaron´s shin colliding with Robert´s foot as he kicked in his sleep.

Robert didn´t know what had started this habit of his, the kicking. He didn't even really know when it had started. What he did know however, was that what could once only have been described as a nervous tick or maybe the scared reaction to a bad dream had turned into a comfort thing over the years. Comfort in so far as that it let him check that Aaron was still there, warm body pressed right up against him or at least within leg´s reach.

At some point during his and Aaron's relationship he had genuinely thought he´d been able to kick his habit - pun intended - his kicking such a rare occurrence that Aaron had woken up one night and felt the need to press his fingers against his boyfriend´s pulse point in paranoia, just to check that he hadn't gone and died on him in the middle of the night, the way he hadn't moved next to him at all for hours. When Robert had woken up the next morning with Aaron´s hand wrapped a little too tightly around his wrist and a still half-asleep Aaron had told him why, they'd come to the agreement that maybe Robert´s subconscious had finally gotten round to the idea that Aaron wasn't planning on going anywhere. That they were solid.

So the kicking had stopped.

_For months._

And then prison had happened. And Rebecca. And Seb. And their break up. And Robert had started to toss and turn in bed overnight like never before, his simple kicks suddenly seeming like nothing more than a nuisance in comparison.

Now, a little over a month into their second chance, or third, or maybe hundredth really, Robert had become a much better person to sleep next to again. Mostly because they´d resumed their old sleeping position, a technique developed over months and months of sharing a bed, with Aaron wrapped tightly around Robert. His chest pressed against his back, his nose buried in the crook of his husband´s neck and - most importantly - their legs entangled, both of Aaron´s keeping Robert´s in place to make sure he wouldn't wake up with a dark bruise in the shades of blue and purple blooming right under his left knee again, like he had a couple of weeks ago when he'd come home late after a scrap run to find Robert already in bed and they'd fallen asleep on opposite sides of their mattress for once.

So when Aaron wasn't there next to him? _Robert noticed._

 

* * *

 

Robert opened his eyes and quickly blinked a few times, trying to adjust to the darkness of their bedroom which was only illuminated by the ray of moonlight falling through a gap in their curtains.

“Aaron?” he grumbled, his voice still low and raspy from sleep, but there was no reply. He sat up and let his eyes fall on Seb´s crib at the foot of their bed, expecting to find it empty. It wouldn't have been the first time that Aaron took feeding and cuddle duties into his own hands in the middle of the night to give his husband the chance to catch up on some much needed sleep, but the crib wasn't empty. Sebastian was lying curled up in his soft blue blanket with his small arms wrapped around the stuffed toy monkey they'd gotten him during their visit to the zoo.  Robert shuffled over to him and carefully lay his hand on his son's chest for a second, feeling it slowly rise and fall as Sebastian softly gurgled.

He let his index finger boop against Seb´s button nose before leaning back to grab the second baby monitor from his night stand. Carefully, he got up from the bed and sleepily stumbled out of the room in nothing but his boxers, making as little noise as possible.

Hissing as the cold metal of the staircase hit his bare feet, he made his way downstairs in the dark, worrying about why Aaron might have left the house in the middle of the night.

Well, he had an idea, but he didn't much like its implications.

He needn't have worried though, because as he reached the bottom of the stairs, there - huddled up on the sofa - sat Aaron, the moonlight falling through the window barely catching the slump of his shoulders and the way his hands were covering his face.

Robert could feel the nervous energy rolling off of his husband in waves even from a distance, his cowering demeanour alone enough to work like a punch to Robert´s gut that set all his protective instincts in motion.

He quickly crossed the last few meters between the staircase and the sofa, expertly avoiding tripping on any of Seb´s toys or Liv´s bag which were scattered across the floor, before stopping right in front of Aaron.

But his husband didn't move a muscle.

Wordlessly, Robert put the baby monitor down on the coffee table and plopped himself onto the sofa right next to Aaron with a low groan, close enough to make sure their knees were touching.

Another minute passed without either one of them uttering a word, their slow, deep breaths the only noise filling the darkness of the Mill, before Robert decided to speak up.

“I woke up and you weren't there,” he explained, keeping his voice down so as not to freak Aaron out too much. When Aaron was like this, all keyed up and lost in his own head, Robert always found himself walking on a tightrope for a minute before he was able to figure out what it was that Aaron needed from him: to keep his distance and let him work things out himself, just a few encouraging words or for him to hold onto him as fervently as he could while he let him cry it all out.

Testing the waters, he let his hand fall on Aaron´s thigh and gave it a comforting squeeze.

“You mean you woke up ´cause you didn't have anyone to kick,” Aaron tried to joke, looking up at him for the first time, but his smile didn't reach his eyes. He did however place his hand over Robert´s and held onto it tightly, which Robert took as a good sign.

“She's going to be okay, Aaron.”

Because of course this was about Liv. It's not like Robert himself hadn't spent every waking hour - and a good few of the hours that he should have been sleeping - worrying about their little sister since they´d found that it had been her who´d spiked Lisa´s drink.

“Can you stop saying that?” Aaron hissed, his tone much harsher than Robert would have expected as he ran his free hand down his face in frustration, “I know you mean well, Robert, but please just stop saying that.” He slowly shook his head.

“I´m sorry.”

Robert knew that he shouldn't be making false promises, but staying positive and trying to keep everyone´s spirits high as he only let himself indulge in every possible worst case scenario in the privacy of his own mind somehow always ended up being Robert´s number one coping mechanism in these situations. It was his lame attempt at keeping things on track and making his family feel safe and secure, while he tried to come up with a master plan. He'd done the exact same thing before Aaron´s trial last year - it had not helped then either.

Aaron let his head fall against the back of the sofa and as he leaned into it and his face was hit by the light, Robert could see his eyes, red and puffy and still filled with unshed tears. His hand moved into Aaron's hair on instinct, gently running his fingers through it and loosening the soft curls that were sticking to his forehead on the way, before settling at the back of his neck and drawing small circles against the skin there.

“I should never have let this happen.” He roughly bit his bottom lip, still agitated.

“This isn't on you, Aaron,” Robert reassured him, but his words fell on deaf ears.

“How is this not on me?” Aaron asked rhetorically, his voice laced with guilt, “I'm her guardian, Robert. I´m her big brother. I´m supposed to take care of her and keep her safe, but I´ve been to wrapped up in myself and my own bullshit these past few months to even notice what was going on with her. What she was getting herself into. And now she's going to court. And the deck is already stacked against her because of me, because of me and every other goddamn Dingle that's ever sat in that courtroom.” The words were tumbling out of his mouth now like someone had finally opened up a dam after days and days of letting water build up behind it, “How is that fair?”

As Aaron grew angrier with himself his worlds grew louder, every syllable cutting like a knife through the quiet. “She could go to prison, Robert. Prison. Because she did one ridiculously stupid thing. And instead of protecting her, just the fact that she's my sister is making everything even worse for her.”  Robert could feel Aaron lean into his touch like he was grounding himself, but it wasn't enough to stop him from panicking.

_Of course it wasn´t._

“No, I'm not going to let you do this. This is a mess, yes, and Liv made a massive mistake, but it's not your fault, Aaron. You have to believe that.”

Gently, Robert tucked the fingers of his free hand under Aaron´s chin, turning his head slowly so that he was forced to look at Robert as he spoke.

“Liv´s a teenager. They make mistakes. People in general do. Awful ones. You and I both made our fair share,” at that a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth that Aaron couldn't help but emulate, but only for a second before his bottom lip was caught between his teeth again, every inch of his face full of concern and worry and - what Robert hated most -  self-doubt. “There were probably a million different tiny daft things that got her to put that stuff in Daz´s drink and there is no way you could have foreseen that,” Robert continued, ”Especially since she's even better at bottling stuff up than you are, and that's saying something.”

He let his hand wander upwards as he spoke until it was pressed against the side of his husband´s face, his thumb tenderly wiping the last few tears under Aaron's eyes away.

“You were there for her after that stuff with Gabby, you listened to her, you protected her, and it still happened. You can't have your eyes on her twenty-four-seven. You just can´t. And we can't protect her from everything. We are going to try our best,” and if Aaron had not already known without a shadow of a doubt that Robert meant every word of that - that he'd move heaven and earth to keep Liv safe - then the adamant look in his eyes in that moment alone would have been enough to convince him, "but at the end of the day she´s going to have to make her own decisions and some of them are going to be terrible.”

Aaron sat up, nodding in agreement as he ran the arm of his hoodie over his tear-stuffed nose.

“She´s got a great solicitor, they don´t have Lisa´s statement to go on anymore and more importantly, she's got you and me and a whole horde of Dingles and Sugdens standing right behind her, okay?,” Robert was speaking more calmly now, noticing the resolute look in his husband´s eyes that matched his own. “You and me have gotten into enough messes in our lives and we´ve always figured things out in the end, right? We´ve always come out the other side and we´re gonna make sure that it's going to be the same for Liv.”

“Course we will,” Aaron agreed and his hand caught Robert´s, lacing their fingers together before squeezing firmly.

“Cause that's what family does, we protect each other. No matter what,” Robert smiled, pressing a quick kiss against Aaron´s forehead.

“Yeah,” Aaron murmured, leaning into Robert´s side.

“Come here,” Robert whispered in that soft, caring voice he seemed to reserve only for his husband, and wrapped his arm around Aaron's shoulder, pulling him into a proper hug.

Aaron let himself fall into the warm comfort of it and turned his head towards him, hiding a small smile against his chest. “Have I ever told you how amazing you are?” he sighed with a laugh in his voice, picking up on his husband´s words from just a few days ago.

Robert bit his lip - a gesture so unlike him in its apprehensiveness that he only could have picked it up from Aaron over the years - and huffed a soft laugh.

“I'm alright, I guess.”

“Yeah, you are,” Aaron mumbled into his shoulder, “Think I'll keep you around.” At that his voice was finally lighter. Lighter than it had been ever since Liv had spilled her secret to them.

“Glad to hear that.”

Aaron could feel the tired, lopsided grin on Robert´s face more than he could see it as he lay his cheek against his head and let Aaron curl into him even further, lifting his leg up to cover Robert´s with it and his arm wrapping tightly around his husband´s waist.

They just sat like that for a minute, both of them letting themselves be comforted by each other´s quiet company and by the fact that just for now, in this moment, the little family they'd made for themselves was _safe_.

Everything else could wait until morning.

“You ready to come back to bed?” Robert whispered into the dark.

“In a minute,” Aaron mumbled and let his head fall a little further against Robert´s shoulder,  if that was even possible, burying his nose against him. And there, feeling warm and comfortable and safer than anywhere else in the world, Aaron finally let his eyes fall shut.

Robert´s hand kept absent-mindedly rubbing at the small of Aaron´s back as he watched the rising and falling of his husband´s chest slow down as he fell asleep. Reverently, he pressed a small kiss to the crown of his head.

“As long as you need.”

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on tumblr [@vicbartons](https://vicbartons.tumblr.com/)


End file.
